Outta My Head
by disintegrate
Summary: Completely. Utterly. AU. Revolves around one quote: "If we lived in another world, during another time, do you think we might have fallen in love?" Pairing? Of course. It's probably unlikely any other way, if it wasn't AU, I mean.
1. Chapter 1

**a/n: **I have to warn you now. If this story interests you in the least, I really have to warn you. I'm the type of ff writer that loses interest in their stories quickly. I don't want to make any false promises and say that I'll finish it. I might say that I will continue it and if I do the time gaps between them might be rather ... wide and can expand over a year. I hope you enjoy this for what it is. That's all.

* * *

_"If we lived in another world, during another time, do you think we might have fallen in love?"_

The husky words tickled her ear, and she couldn't help but wonder who had spoken them. It wasn't as if anyone was around her, or rather, who would be at that time of night? She clutched to the blanket around her, bringing it closer in hopes to get warm. Taking a glance at the clock she decided, she groaned. Maybe it was just a dream and she would forget all about it in the morning.

– x – x – x – x –

In the morning, however, she couldn't seem to forget the voice from early that morning. Instead, it was as if she couldn't get it out of her mind. Even while at work, even while teaching a class. She couldn't help feeling as if she should have known who the voice belonged to.

"Ms. Trepe?"

"Ah."

She had been staring at the blackboard for a few minutes now. Her hand still pressed against it, in the middle of writing. It wasn't like the blonde to space out like that. She could feel the looks of concern her students (not that much younger than her) were giving her. With a light shake of her head, she scanned over her work before continuing with her lecture.

– x – x – x – x –

At lunch the next day, she was no better. In fact, her friends – coworkers, began to point it out.

"Oh? Look at that."

"What is it?"

"Even while hounded by so many students, she still has time to space out like that."

Jab.

"Ow. What! It's true!"

Snapping out of it, she turned to her coworkers with a wry smile and a slight shake of the head. She had heard the entire exchange. There was really something wrong with her lately. She couldn't seem to get that voice, those words, out of her mind. At a distance, a brunette watched her worriedly as she left to her classroom.

– x – x – x – x –

And so it continued. The next week. The next month.

It hadn't even taken her fan club that long to deuce it must have been over a boy ... and that she had been _dumped_ by them. To those who weren't involved, it might have appeared oddly amusing to see them roaming around the school, trying to figure out just who it would have been. Of course, all their fighting ceased once the woman entered the room. If it wasn't for how perceptive she was she might not have even noticed that there fights had been taking place.

Then that letter arrived on her desk.

– x – x – x – x –

Watching the last student leave the classroom, Xu took this as her chance to talk to her privately.

"Oh, Xu, what brings you here?" Quistis had been expecting her visit for some time now. She knew that it wasn't good and had hoped that she hadn't been "spacing out" as often as she used to now. But, with the way Xu held herself before her. The worried look she gave badly hidden with annoyance. She knew that was wrong.

"What has been going on with you?" The same question she'd been asking the blonde every day now. Each time, Quistis had somehow managed to evade the question, by student or by work. This time, Xu had her trapped.

"Hm...?" Quistis looked up at her innocently.

"Quisty."

She sighed and motioned for Xu to come closer. The brunette raised a brow and did so. Just loud enough so Xu could hear, she whispered in her ear, "If we lived in another world, during another time, do you think we might have fallen in love?"

Xu sputtered, moving away from her quickly. She had a feeling that it was about love, but towards her? "I – I –"

"Pffft."

Quistis covered her mouth as she began to laugh. She knew that Xu would act that way. In fact, she hoped so. If only she had a camera to take her picture.

"T – that's not funny." The brunette said, finally regaining her composure, although there was still a hint of red coloring her cheeks. She wagged her finger. "You still haven't told me what's bothering you."

"It's exactly as I've told you."

"B – but?"

"I can't figure out who asked me that." She sighed, as she took a seat at her desk. "I know that I should but ..."

Xu watched her carefully. There were some thing things – a lot actually, that she didn't know about the blonde's past. It was almost like a carefully guarded secret. Eventually, the blonde had explained to her that she simply didn't remember and Xu never brought it up again, even if she knew that there was more to it than that.

"It has something to do with your past, doesn't it?" She eventually asked.

"I suppose so." She replied, sounding rather unsure of herself.

Xu wasn't quite sure if she should push this any further now and decided to change the subject. She scanned the blonde's desk for a topic. "Hm? What's this?" Xu picked up the brown, rather official looking envelope, from the blonde's desk. She looked at Quistis with a small frown. The address was blacked out and all that was left was the name ... written in Chinese. She didn't even know that Quistis could read it.

"I'm not sure. I got it this morning, but I haven't opened it yet." She answered

"I can see that." Xu said dryly. "I meant, do you have a clue who it's from?"

"No." Finished gathering what she needed to bring home, she took the envelope from Xu's hands. "I'll read it when I get home."

"Not in front of me?"

"It could be private, you know."

"Fine. Take your 'private' letter elsewhere."

"I will." She smirked, leaving Xu alone in the classroom.


	2. Chapter 2

"_And here I thought that we were already in love." _

A gentle laugh sends chills down her spine. It didn't frighten her in the least, but what did was the fact that it hadn't. Instead, she found that she _liked_ it, which troubled her quite a bit. A person's closeness, even in her dreams at least up until now, was never for her. She established that long ago. Duty before feelings. They clouded a person's mind and, in her line of business, that was a dangerous thing.

She looked at the ceiling, trying to calm her rapidly beating heart. It was only two pm. There were only a few more hours before she had to leave. She needed her rest. With a small sigh, she managed to calm herself enough to focus on sleeping.

– x – x – x – x –

"You have to focus, you know."

She gritted her teeth and attempted to kick him in the chest ... again. He caught it easily, just like last and flipped her on her back, pressing her against the dirt. It was shameful. She could just die ... if she was that type of person. Instead, she fought back, giving him a head butt – _harshly_ and continued with her attack. He regained his shock and did his best to not only counter, but try to get the advantage once more.

After an onslaught of strikes, she flipped him onto his back as she straddled him, her hand hugging his throat comfortably. He looked up at her wide eyed; she could feel him gulp under her grip and allowed herself to show a small smirk.

"Okay. Okay. I give."

She studied him to see if he was being truthful. There were times where he did try to sneak attack her, although they never worked out well for him.

"What?"

She shook her head and got back up on her feet. There were other things she had to do. If he hadn't jumped her earlier, she would have already been done with daily training. Instead, she was going to have to skip it. How bothersome.

She went back inside her apartment and decided to take a bath before going to the airport.

– x – x – x – x –

With the way she held herself, along with the silver hair, some might think that she's quite a bit older than she looks. The thoughts of her actually dying it that way were close to impossible, she wasn't the type to act so ... so spontaneous. Besides, it matched her red eyes and light skin. It made her stand out as an albino. A rare creature.

Getting to the airport wasn't that hard. Now, getting through it was. She had never been the type to care for flying, but when it came to the security... They always seemed to suspect her for one reason or another, which was why she always left for the airport much earlier than recommended so she could manage to get to her flight on time. Even with the difficulties of the security.

But, today, things seemed to go her way. No one bothered stopping her, so she was stuck waiting for a flight that was going to arrive in three hours. She had even arrived to the airport "late" because of her little fight from earlier.

Rubbing her forehead, she decided that she might as well get some rest and try to blend in with her surroundings.

– x – x – x – x –

Staring at the brown envelope, she frowned. It had been there, in front of her, for hours now, but she hadn't touched it. There was something about it that made her feel like after she opened it, everything would change. If she opened it ... what if she didn't like what she found? What if this had the missing memories of her past?

She sighed for what seemed to be the hundredth time since she started the little staring contest with the envelope. "It's completely harmless." She tried to assure herself. It wasn't as its contents would hurt her ... right? They had already checked (using light to see through it) if there was anything particularly dangerous in it. Other than some virus or a bacterium, which was highly unlikely since she wasn't the only one who had touched it in the past three days, there wasn't anything she could think of that would harm her inside the envelope.

"Completely harmless." She muttered again as her fingers gripped onto its opening. Still, she couldn't help but to close her eyes as the slow, almost torturous, ripping sound filled the air.

"Papers." She smiled wryly. _Of course they were!_ Her mind screamed at her. _What did you think there was? Some sort of ticking time bomb?_ She began to grin at how ridiculous she had been and even giggling slightly at that. It was just a normal letter in a large, important looking envelope.

Of course, she hadn't read the contents of said letter, but it looked normal enough. At least until she saw the seal at the last page, near the signature of the person who wrote it. Her eyes widened slightly.

She was the one who wrote it.

She'd just written a letter to herself.

"T – this has to be a joke." She managed to say after the longest time. It was impossible. She would have remembered writing something this long and it wasn't even dated that long ago.

– x – x – x – x –

The next day, she almost couldn't wait to show the letter to Xu. She had nearly yanked the woman out of her office during her meeting and into her empty classroom to show her just what she had found. Even Xu was surprised. The handwriting was clearly hers and the stamp. She didn't recognize the stamp, but it looked official enough. There was a slight difference in the stamp's style in comparison to Quistis' official one, but they shared the same name. The same writing style.

"Maybe it's a relative of yours...?" She offered, although they both knew that it couldn't be.

"Right. I suppose it's not too far off to say that I have an identical twin I never knew about?" She joked.

"Who knows, you could." Xu pointed out seriously.

She frowned at the thought. It wasn't as if she disliked the idea of having a sibling; it was more that she was disappointed in herself for forgetting about it. Something along those lines.

"Well, asides from the story, the letter looks pretty legit."

"I know."

With that said, she decided to bury her head in her hands as Xu sighed and patted her back lightly.

* * *

**a/n: **wondering where the idea of "hugging" someone with their hands came from? Well, it was something my mom said: "hands are for hugging not for hitting." So, when my brother and sister got into a fight, guess what I said? "Hug her with your hands! That'll keep her down!" Mom chocked on her drink, and they stopped fighting and started laughing.

And if you haven't guessed it. My mom meant to say "arms are for hugging." I used it to say "choke her." xD;


	3. Chapter 3

"_Don't tell me you're leaving again? I suppose I can't imagine you staying in one place forever though."_

He reached out to the voice, to comfort their awfully sad voice, only to grab air. It wasn't – he felt as if she shouldn't sound like that. Not that any girl should, this one was just special. A cold sweat trickled down his forehead. Just how long had he been sleeping? The silver haired sitting beside him just stared. Not really at him, but at the window beside him. If he hadn't known better though, he might have been offended. She was clearly just bored, just as he was. Just sitting on the plane was boring. Although, he couldn't help feeling a bit self-conscious with her staring even if it wasn't towards him. Maybe he should have swapped seats with her.

"Could you..."

"Apologies."

She said quietly before looking to the seat before her, rifling through the pocket of the chair before her. Hopefully, there was something there interesting to keep her attention for now. And there was, not really interesting, but it was a decent alternative than staring out the window and making the man beside her uncomfortable.

Other than the sound of pages flipping, it was relatively quiet between the two, but it wasn't the awkward kind. Neither of them were talkers, and yet, here they were, sent on the same assignment as partners for their current job.

– x – x – x – x –

Until now, the two of them only knew each other as coworkers. Never had they actually spoken, much less stayed in the same room. They knew each other by their reputations as well. Both were high ranking in their departments. Both came highly recommended. Both were top of their classes. Which lead to the question:

Just how dangerous was this mission really to require the two of them?

Although neither of them said it aloud, that was what they were thinking when they had first gotten the mission as well as now. Whatever this was going to be, it wasn't going to be easy. Although they wouldn't admit it, while they didn't really mind their new partnership, they both did prefer if one of them had been more outspoken to lighten the mood. Just like their usual partners.

"Do you-" "Ah-"

They both stopped and stared at one another before shaking their heads and looking the other way. This wasn't going to be easy at all.

– x – x – x – x –

Meanwhile at Quistis' apartment, Xu was pacing around the kitchen. Quistis was at the table, her fingers rapping against the table as she watched her best friend pace around the room.

"When are they supposed to be here?"

The question was unnecessary since they both knew that Xu was a quick study and had probably already memorized the entire letter despite its length.

"Six tonight." Quistis replied easily, although she was frowning now. "Maybe you _should_ leave."

The brunette stopped in her tracks and stared at her as if the blonde had grown a second head. "Nonsense. Not until we figure out what's going on here."

Her frown only deepened. While she might have been the one to show the letter to the brunette, she didn't want her to worry this much. It was just going to be a meeting, according to the letter. She wasn't going to be drugged or kidnapped or even forced into something. They were just going to talk, and it wasn't as if she could hide. They found her in the first place. "I'll be fine. You live next door anyways, so if anything goes wrong... You're making me more nervous by doing that, Xu."

"Sorry."

– x – x – x – x –

By the time their visitors arrived, Xu had already gone home. It had taken quite a bit of convincing, and a little bit of teasing, before she had managed to get Xu to leave. But now that she was gone, Quistis couldn't help but feel even more nervous, just what did the other "her" get into?

Standing before her were two people dressed in rather professional clothing. Suits and ties. Even the female. Still, it was rather odd that they looked about _her_ age, which was far too young to be ... whatever it is they were. "Can I help you?" She asked, although she knew it wasn't necessary. In fact, she was already scolding herself mentally for asking such a stupid –

"Yes. You are Quistis Trepe, right?"

She nodded slowly, still somewhat taken back that this was actually happening. The young man who'd spoken was rather ... handsome, if it wasn't for the serious demeanor that the two of them (him along with the silver haired female that stood beside him) seemed to emit, she might have actually thought more of it. Instead, she moved aside to allow them in.

Closing the door behind them, she wondered where she had seen them before. They were eerily familiar. Especially the silver haired. She noted how her eyes trailed instantly to her rather than the young man. The problem was, she still couldn't place it, the feeling that they've already met. Both of them, although it was a bit stronger for her, and it made her feel guilty.

They stopped at her living room. After she had offered for them to sit, only the man had. The woman stood by his side, hands behind her back in a military like pose. _Were they going to recruit her?_ Neither of them looked like the talkative type, but she could already tell that they were expecting something more from her, something that was quite impossible at the moment.

"Do you know why we are here?"

"Because I was involved in some sort of mission where you work, correct?"

"Yes."

The two looked at one another, then back to Quistis, who struggled to keep the look of confusion from her features. It was as if the two of them simply communicated through telepathy or something of the like.

"Excuse me?"

"Your mission here has ended."


End file.
